SS Ahluwalia’s intervention saves woman in S’pore

Darjeeling, September 27 2015: A frantic letter from a woman from Manipur, Salomi Dangmei, requesting assistance from the Darjeeling MP to help free her sister Kimmei Dangmei in Singapore, got the Hon’able Darjeeling MP SS Ahluwalia immediately involved.

With help from a lady from Darjeeling who in turn helped Salomi by approaching the Darjeeling MP for help, the MP’s swift action saved the Manipur woman’s sister from the clutches of those who were ill-treating her in a foreign land.

Like many unemployed youths, Ms.Kimmei Dangmei left India to work as a maid at the house of one Amit Desai and his wife in Singapore.

Like every youngster, Kimmei had hopes that she would work hard and save enough to start supporting her family in India.

Her life in Singapore was anything but that.

Kimmei arrived in Singapore on 10th of April, 2015 and was subjected to cruelty right from the start.

The Desais forced her to sleep alone in the kitchen.

She was not given enough food, and her personal belongings (which included passports) were also kept in the bedroom of the Desais with the intent of preventing Kimmei from leaving the house.

Unable to bear the mistreatment, Kimmei complained to Mr.Sam John Director of the Business Associate Group (BAG) � her agency, through which she had secured the job.

The agency did not take any action.

After a few months, when Kimmei felt threatened for her life, she complained to Sam John again, and this time, both the agency and the Desais agreed to terminate her contract on the condition that Ms.Kimmei will bear the cost of the return ticket herself.

However, Kimmei was worried that the Desais will not let her leave the house just like that, so she secretly left the house on 21st of August 2015 and went to a home run by the Ministry of Manpower (MoM, Singapore).

On finding out about the circumstances in which Kimmei was forced to leave the home, the MoM staff asked the Desais to return her airfare.

Accompanied by an MoM staff Daisy and her agent, went to the Desais’ house to pick up her belongings.

Before leaving, the Desais made them search Kimmei’s belongings, and the bags were searched in front of everyone, nothing was found on them.

However, the Mrs.Desai again pretended to search the bags, and in a typical vamp of the Bollywood movies move, managed to find a gold pendant, 10 lipsticks and a T-shirt of their 10 year old son.

The agent Sam John then called the police who came and arrested Kimmei based on the allegations of theft, but Kimmei refused to surrender and contested the allegations.

She stated that her personal belongings were kept by the Desais in their bedroom, so she could not have accessed the bag and hidden those items.

The police started to investigate, and released Kimmei from their custody on the 22nd of August, 2015, with instructions not to leave the country till the investigations were over.

Luckily for Kimmei, the matter somehow managed to reach the Darjeeling MP SS Ahluwalia on September 4th, 2015.On hearing about the plight of the girl, he immediately contacted the Minister of External Affairs and sought her intervention in the case.

He also urged the Hon’ble Minister to provide consular and legal assistance to Kimmei.

The Singapore Indian embassy thereby got involved and spoke with the investigation office.

Since both Kimmei and the Desais are Indians the case was a complicated one for the Indian Embassy to handle.

However, truth prevailed and on September 22nd the Singapore police finally concluded the case in favour of Kimmei.

Their letter to her states, “After careful consideration of the facts and circumstances of the case and in consultation with the Attorney-General’s Chambers, the police have decided not to take further action against you” .

Kimmei is finally heaving a sigh of relief, after nearly having to live 6 months of hell like condition.

When asked to comment, MP Ahluwalia said, “I’m just doing my duty as the representative of the Gorkhas of Darjeeling”

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